Posts Tagged ‘The Beatles’
CAL Concert
We were out on the town with our friends Barb and Mike in St. Paul last night to see a “Classic Albums Live” performance at the Ordway Theater. Why didn’t I know about this organization that’s been around for more than 20 years? Cyndie found this event when looking for something to do and added a reservation at Kincaid’s Fish, Chop & Steakhouse within walking distance of the theater for dinner before the show.
Irish Whiskey Seared Salmon for me and Prime Rib for Cyndie. Yum!
The classic album that we saw performed was The Beatles’ Abbey Road. The musicians admit to being nerds for the sounds of the albums, note for note, cut for cut. They don’t dress in costumes or strive to imitate the original artists. Instead, they put all their focus on performing live renditions of the recorded songs of classic albums from the period of music I grew up listening to. They don’t talk between cuts but just roll from one song to the next, the way my brain is used to hearing it.
What a trip!
Watching the effort they put into reproducing each effect of the recordings was particularly entertaining. On “Octopus’s Garden,” the horn players appeared on stage for the first time, holding cups with straws, to join the violinist and cellist in blowing bubbles in a way that worked perfectly to replicate the recorded version.
Of course, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” had the violinist striking metal with a hammer. From hand claps to harmonies and impressively precise musicianship, the artists brought the album to life in front of a full theater of passionate fans.
The Abbey Road album is only 47 minutes in length, so the musicians took a break after completing “Her Majesty” and then came out for a second set of Beatles’ songs from a variety of albums.
They closed the show with a rousing performance of “Twist and Shout” that had the audience on its feet, singing and dancing along. A good time was had by all.
On the drive home, Cyndie was checking the Classic Albums Live website for albums we might want to catch in the future. In just two weeks, they will be back at the Ordway to perform U2’s Joshua Tree. The Ordway announced they would be releasing their 2025-26 performance schedule soon, which will include more CAL shows, so we will be watching for that to see if there isn’t another nostalgic opportunity that strikes our fancy.
As I wound down from the excitement last night, I found myself thinking that I should do more listening to my music library by entire album instead of the usual random shuffle of every song in my collection that I most often choose. I think the first one I will pick might be Abbey Road since the live concert version is still fresh in my mind.
Since my library is digital, no flipping of vinyl will need to occur half way through.
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Short Shift
I had a very short shift of animal care last night while Cyndie was at her mother’s house for the night. Delilah seemed thrilled that we could walk through our woods again, now that the deer hunting season is over. The temperature was in the 50s(F) which seems really strange for any day in December, but not all that surprising now that the global climate is being cooked.
The warmth seems to have kicked our burrowing rodents into high gear. By the size of some of the fresh dirt piles showing up they must be building extravagant palaces beneath the turf. The soil they bring up looks so pristine. I really should collect it for future use. Not a stone to be found among the mounds of wonderfully sifted dirt.
Our habit is usually to just stomp the piles flat again but there was just too much dirt for that yesterday. I couldn’t pound them down enough so I decided to kick them around, instead. A little like kickin’ horse manure in the pastures.
I found the horses to be incredibly serene when we showed up to serve the feed pans with afternoon rations. It probably rubbed off on Delilah because she barely made a fuss while waiting for me to finish, barking only briefly at nothing in particular.
In less than an hour, all the animals were taken care of and I had the night free to lose myself in the first episode of the 3-part documentary, The Beatles: Get Back, directed by Peter Jackson.
Lose myself, I did.
I am eternally grateful to the fab four for allowing themselves to be filmed at the time and indebted to the camera operators and sound technicians who successfully captured so many hours of unscripted randomness. That we can all watch this unique footage some fifty-plus years later is remarkable to me.
With two more episodes to go, this documentary is the opposite of a short shift, and I will savor every drawn-out moment.
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Relative Something 